The North Sea is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, with more than 66,000 ships passing through Belgian territory.
Due to the high traffic volume, the risk of oil spills is always present, and aware of this, the Belgian Ministry of Public Health – the agency responsible for combating marine pollution – decided to invest in the innovative NOFI Current Buster 4 system in the coastal city of Ostende.
This is a system that uses air cushions to effectively collect oil in the event of an oil spill. The investment cost for the system is 264,000 EUR (286,000 USD) funded by wind farms to offset the impact of wind farms on the marine environment.
NOFI Current Buster 4 is a floating oil filtration system, the oil is collected in a large bag at the back of the system. When full, the oil can be pumped to ships. This is a new solution that complements the Belgian Government’s existing equipment for cleaning up oil spills at sea. The system can collect a large amount of oil in a short time, easy to move and deploy in different terrains. In particular, the system does not use chemicals and is not harmful to the marine environment.
Source: Saigon Giai Phong
